Why I Write Every Day (And Why It Matters)

I have a confession to make … for much of the time I was writing my next novel, I was a bad writer. That’s not to say not to say I was writing a bad story (though I haven’t read the thing, so I wouldn’t put it past me), but that I was doing a bad job at the physical act of writing.

I started this book in mid September which, in retrospect, wasn’t the smartest decision I’ve made. I just hadn’t written anything in a few months, because I’d been in editing mode, and I was anxious to get going. But I knew as well as anyone that the Cubs were pretty decent, and had a solid shot at playing a bit longer than the typical Cubs team. And I also knew I’m a sucker for baseball — particularly Cubs baseball — and watching them in the playoffs was going to suck up my time on a hell of a lot of evenings. I certainly don’t regret even one moment of watching my childhood favorite team run through the postseason and win its first World Series since the Paleozoic Era, but it meant my writing was really sporadic for close to six weeks after starting the book — I’d only get maybe two totally free nights a week without baseball, and sometimes we had non-writing things to take care of those nights. Then I had no momentum into November and, when December came, I felt like I was stuck in the 20,000s for an eternity.

What I found during those first 75 days or so when I was writing in weird fits and starts was that it felt very different from when I wrote 85,000 words of “Killing the Immortals” in 6 weeks — a complete out-of-body experience that still makes no sense to me. Since Dec. 10, though, I’ve re-committed to writing 1,000 words per day and, about 45 days later, I’m past 75,000 words and closing in on the run to the finish. In the process, I’ve learned a lot about the value of that consistency and momentum in writing. Here’s why I think it’s been important:

• Connection to the story
  When I’m writing a novel, I consider myself to be the only witness to this world that’s unspooling before me. It’s sort of a privilege to be the one person in the world with insight into these characters and their story; I get to be the conduit through which their story is told to the world (or, well, the dozen or so people who actually read the book). When I was writing sporadically, though, it felt like I was dipping in and out of the world too infrequently, and had a difficult time understanding characters’ motivations, and having a feel for what they’d do in a particular situation. It felt more like I was driving the story than the story was driving me. When writing every day, I never really leave that world completely; the characters feel fresh and real.
• Discipline
  Eventually, I’d like to do this as my only job. Yeah, there’s a pretty good chance that’ll never happen. But, hey, we can all have crazy stupid goals in life, eh? For now, though, I’m working a regular 8:30-to-5-ish job while also trying to write a novel that doesn’t suck. So if I’m going to write every day, that means carving out about an hour even on the five nights a week I’m working most of the day. When you work for about 9 hours and sleep for 7 or so, then toss in commuting time, meals, showers, getting dressed, etc., there’s only a few hours left to write. And I also have a wife who I’d like not to be a writing widow. Weekends are fairly easy, but it takes some discipline to make it happen all week. And that discipline is great to instill in yourself. The fact that I can do it and still look forward to the next writing session, still enjoy the process, shows that this is something I want to keep doing.
• Routine
  With any artistic endeavor, I think it’s important to have a bit of a routine that helps you settle in and feel comfortable with the process. Put together your writing space that you enjoy being in. Find a comfortable chair. Get a desk that has the look and feel you want. Toss in whatever knick-knacks that create a creative environment for you. Try to put it somewhere where you can close the door to signal “This is writing time” both to yourself and whoever you might live with. It’s work. It’s creative and fun but, if you’re ever going to get to that point where it’s your job, it’s going to be … well, a job. It’s work. And having that routine is both going to help your writing now, and help you have that routine set for the day that might possibly maybe come down the road when you get that 9+ hours back that you were spending in a cubicle.